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Circumcision, fidelity touted against AIDS

    JOHANNESBURG

    Male circumcision and faithfulness should take precedence over condoms or abstinence in stemming HIV/AIDS in Africa, experts said in Johannesburg, South Africa last week.

    According to Daniel Halperin, a US HIV prevention expert, condoms were rarely used by regular sex partners, while abstinence usually delayed HIV infection of young people by only a year or two.

    "But persuading people to have just one sex partner at a time and men to be circumcised could help end a perfect storm of the disease in Southern Africa," Halperin told reporters during a gathering to analyse 20 years of AIDS studies from the continent.

    Last year a first ever controlled study found male circumcision appeared to cut HIV transmission by 60 percent to 75 percent.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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